Bills Kaleb Elarms-Orr, 52, stays after practice and chats with teammates for a little while at Bills Training Camp at St. John Fisher University in Pittsford on Aug. 4, 2026.
Tina MacIntyre-Yee / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
The Buffalo Bills will have a very different defense in 2026, and new defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard is seeing to that by giving a ton of players reps with the first-team unit.
“The Bills are throwing everyone at the wall right now defensively and seeing what sticks. It makes sense. This defense was very much built in the image of Sean McDermott, who ran Buffalo's D since 2017,” ESPN's Ben Solak reports from Rochester. “That means even second-contract players such as Christian Benford and Greg Rousseau have known only McDermott's unit, and that was a fairly static defense.”
In addition to the presumed 11 starters on the Bills defense, Solak noted that he saw Javon Solomon, DeWayne Carter, Kaleb Elarms-Orr, Kani Walker, Sam Franklin Jr., Phidarian Mathis, Keonta Jenkins, Jordan Hancock, Geno Stone, and Zane Durant get first-team reps in training camp.
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Rookie safety Jalon Kilgore and second-year defensive lineman Landon Jackson—who bulked up to move from edge to interior defensive line this offseason—have also drawn rave reviews in Bills training camp.
Leonhard's aggressive 3-4 defense will be a lot different than McDermott's bend-but-don't-break 4-3. However, a majority of the players on the Bills' roster are still in the mold of that latter style. This is why the new DC is holding open competitions at seemingly every position to see who fits his style best, no matter what their pedigree is or experience in McDermott's D was.
This could lead to a rocky season before Leonhard gets all his personnel in. Or, it could end up as the most dangerous defense Josh Allen has ever had opposite him, which would be great for Buffalo's chances this season.